


Staying Over

by Wolfgirl19



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: AU, Abuse, Bruises, Charlie being protective of the Afton kids, Discussions of abuse, Gen, Mentioned Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, One Shot, Protective Brother Michael Afton, William Afton is a bad parent, but we all know that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29968056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfgirl19/pseuds/Wolfgirl19
Summary: While their dad is on a weekend trip, Charlie and Sammy thought they would enjoy a quiet Friday night. Until the Afton kids show up on their doorstep, scared, crying, and in Michael's case, battered and bruised.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	Staying Over

**Author's Note:**

> And now for something different for this author: a one shot fic based on the Five Nights at Freddy's series, and one set in an AU where everyone lives (or at least hasn't died and had their soul possess a robot). May or may not make a follow up or series for this, but that depends.
> 
> Without further ado, hope you guys enjoy!

A knock came from the front door, interrupting the movie she and Sammy were currently watching the ending of. Charlie got off the living room sofa and hurried towards the door, checking the cash in her pocket to make sure she had enough for the pizza she ordered for dinner.

Instead of the pizza boy, she was greeted by a sight that made her heart sink.

The Afton kids, currently standing on her porch, shaking from how cold it was outside. The younger of the three, Caleb and Elizabeth, hid behind Michael with tears in their eyes, Caleb hugging his Fredbear plushie tight against his chest as if it would slip from his grip. Elizabeth was clinging onto Michael's purple shirt, afraid to let go as she fought to keep her tears from spilling out. As for Michael, the fellow teen had several bruises on his face and neck, many of them larger in size and more darker in color than the others, accompanied by the dark purple black eye on the left side of his face. The neck bruises, upon closer inspection, resembled the shape of fingers, as if someone grabbed his throat.

"Can we, uh, stay for a while?" Michael's raspy voice asked.

"Um, sure, come in," Charlie motioned them inside, trying to keep a calm demeanor around the obviously distressed Afton kids. "Hey Caleb, Elizabeth," she added. "How about you two watch TV with Sammy while I talk with Michael, alright?"

They kept their gloomy expressions and nodded at her suggestion, Caleb walking towards the TV with Elizabeth following along, their mood starting to improve once they got close enough to the TV set.

"Cool! You guys have a VHS player!" Caleb shouted excitedly.

"I hope there's cartoons for us to watch," Elizabeth added.

"We do," Sammy said, pointing to the box full of VHS tapes next to the TV. "All the cartoons you can watch. How about you help me decide which one to play next?"

The duo happily agreed, helping Sammy search through the box, only for the three to immediately begin arguing over what to watch next as Charlie led Michael into the kitchen, bracing herself for his explanation on what happened when she asked,

"It's your dad again, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Michael answered as he sat at the kitchen table, his voice sounding less raspy. "Except things escalated this time around."

"But what happened, exactly? I mean, only if you want to talk about it."

"Dad got drunk again and tried to attack Caleb and Elizabeth for no reason other than a drunken rage. And as you probably can tell, these bruises are the result of me defending them until we were able to escape him."

"What about..." Charlie pointed to his neck. "Are those what I think they are?"

"Dad nearly choked me as Caleb and Elizabeth ran out of the house. I was just lucky a kick to his gut was enough to get him off me."

Charlie had no idea what of what to say of it, her mind trying to grasp the idea of William willingly killing his own son in a fit of alcohol-induced anger.

"Are there any other injuries I need to know about?" Charlie finally asked.

"Just what you see here," Michael said, gesturing to his face and neck.

Charlie went for the freezer, taking out an ice pack and shoving it in his hands.

"For the black eye, of course. Wait here while I check on the kids."

"Don't worry about me, Charlie. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Charlie rolled her eyes Michael moved a few strands of his long, brown hair to apply the icepack on his black eye. Charlie watched the kids from the kitchen entryway to see them sitting in front of the TV watching one of Sammy's Disney movies, Charlie unable to remember the name of the film, their eyes too glued to the screen to notice her approaching from behind them.

"Doing okay over there, Caleb and Elizabeth?" Charlie asked, getting their attention.

"Yep," Elizabeth answered, diverting her attention back to the movie.

"Same," Caleb added, his plushie now sitting next to him facing the TV.

"Good. If you need anything, just give me a holler."

She went back into the kitchen, sitting in the dining chair next to him to say,

"Michael, don't you think you need to call for help at this point? Or try to get yourself and the kids to a place that's safe?"

"Oh I've tried to get help, Charlie, believe me. But this being the Afton family, dad has always called upon his connections to pull a few strings in his favor, or otherwise broke out his charmer persona to get his way with social workers who did manage to come to our home to investigate, quitting any investigation before it could start."

"But Michael, have you at least tried getting some other forms of help?"

"I've also tried that, only to be faced with the reality that no one is going, or willing even, to help us."

"Except for dad, Sammy, and me," Charlie said.

"That's because Henry and you two are the only people in Hurricane I know who are willing to help us. As for finding a safe place, I don't even know where to go should we have to runaway from home."

"Well, our house is always available for you guys whenever you need it. For the an hour, a day or just for the night, you're always welcome here to stay over."

"I..." Michael trailed off, not expecting Charlie's offer. "Thank you," he quietly replied.

"Not a problem. If any of you three are in need, you can come to us."

Another knock, louder this time, came from the door, Charlie nearly jumping in surprise, Michael doing the same. She motioned Michael to remain quiet as she slowly walked towards the kitchen window, hoping that whoever at the door wasn't who she thought he was.

Looking out, she let out a relieved breath to see it was just the pizza guy, late but holding the two pizzas she ordered. She went to the front door, checking on the cash she had in her pocket again as Sammy watched her from the TV.

"Is it the pizza this time?" Sammy asked.

"Thankfully," Charlie replied.

"Pizza?" Caleb and Elizabeth asked in unison.

Sammy nodded in confirmation.

"Pizza!" they both cheered.

Charlie answered the door, making her payment and carried the pizzas to the kitchen, the three kids turning off their movie and following along as she placed the food on the table, the smell of spicy pepperoni wafting in the air.

"You like pizza, right Michael?" Charlie asked. 

"As long as it's not the cardboard tasting crap made at Freddy's, then yes."

Charlie gave a small chuckle, even if Michael was right of the quality of the pizza served at Freddy's, as she helped everyone get their share, the five of them enjoying their feast of pizza.

"And by the way, Charlie," Michael began after he finished his current slice. "Where's Henry?"

"Dad? He's out of town for a business trip, and allowing me to look over the house until he comes back Monday."

"Which means I get to stay up all night!" Sammy added.

"Sammy, dad told me to make sure you go to bed by nine," Charlie reminded.

"Aw, come on, Charlie. Can't you let me stay up late just this once?" Sammy begged.

"Nope. Rules are rules."

Sammy gave a pouty look. "At least Caleb and Elizabeth are allowed to stay up."

"I don't think so. Even our guests have to go to bed on time, too."

"But we don't want to go home," Caleb added.

"Who said you were going home tonight? You and Elizabeth can crash in my room."

Michael nearly spat out a bite of his second pizza slice at what Charlie said. "You're actually allowing us to stay tonight?" 

"Duh. Did you really think I would kick you out and go back to that monster? Of course you can stay."

"I...I..." Michael stuttered. "I don't know how to thank you."

"No need. And as I said, you're always welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Does that mean me and Caleb can have a sleepover?" Sammy asked.

"Yep."

"Yes!" Sammy cheered.

Charlie checked on the clock above the kitchen window, the time reading 8:30 p.m.

"You boys better hurry if with dinner if you want to play before bedtime."

Sammy and Caleb did just that, scarfing down the rest of their food and running out of the kitchen to go upstairs.

"What about me?" Elizabeth asked.

"I can turn on a movie for the rest of us to watch," Charlie suggested.

"Can't."

"Why's that?"

"Because Michael's soap is on at this time."

Michael dropped his pizza, allowing it to land on the tablecloth as he said,

"I forgot! I need to hurry to catch tonight's new episode!"

He sped out of the kitchen as if he had superhuman speed, picking up the remote to turn the TV on and flipped through the channels, stopping once he found the channel playing the latest episode of The Immortal and the Restless.

"I think I'll just go to bed early," Elizabeth said.

"But you still have thirty minutes left," Charlie pointed out.

"I'm willing to do anything if it lets me avoid Michael's vampire show."

"Um, okay then. My room's upstairs to the left."

Elizabeth gave a nod and left for upstairs, leaving Charlie alone in the kitchen. She cleaned up dinner, thankful that nobody was a messy eater, and went into the living room, sitting next to Michael on the couch as his soap opera continued, watching the show's leads, Vlad and Clara if she remembered right, arguing over who's the father of their baby.

"I sometimes wonder why you like watching this cheesy show," Charlie told Michael.

"It may be cheesy as hell, but it helps take my mind off things."

"I bet."

"And I wish they wrap up this 'who's the daddy' storyline already. They've been focusing on nothing but that for two weeks."

"What do you expect, Michael? It's a soap plot writers just love to use to add instant drama and mystery."

"I guess you're right. I bet you by next week they'll age up the baby without explanation for some convoluted story arc or something."

They spent the rest of the episode discussing the show's melodramatic, and often ridiculous, plotlines, especially of this episode. Once the episode ended, encouraging viewers to tune in next week to find out if Vlad was indeed the baby's father, Charlie and Michael went upstairs to check on the kids, and see if any of them actually went to bed on time.

Slowly opening the door to Sammy's room, they found him and Caleb sleeping in a fort made of blankets and a few huge cardboard boxes Henry gave Sammy last week. Caleb hugged his Fredbear plushie as he slept, him and Sammy under the blankets that weren't used in the fort's construction. When they checked on Elizabeth, she was in fact sleeping in Charlie's bed, looking comfortable under the patterned quilt. 

"Guess we better get some shut eye, too," Michael said. "If you need me, I'll be snoring on the couch, probably watching the encore presentation of my show first."

"Alrighty. See you in the morning."

They parted ways, Michael heading back downstairs as Charlie got herself ready for bed. Once she was changed into some comfy pajamas, she entered Henry's room, knowing her dad wouldn't be bothered by his own kids sleeping in his bed for the night, getting under the covers of the soft mattress, feeling herself fall fast asleep after what happened tonight, praying to herself that things would improve.

But knowing the wild history of the Aftons, especially after the fallout of Henry and William splitting their ownership of Fazbear Entertainment, Charlie doubted that any improvement, if any did came, would last that long.


End file.
